Your Comments

The government should abolish stamp duty, then people could afford to move house more often and buy a house nearer to their wok place. This plus good public transport would reduce costs and the amount of people on the road in rush hours.

When will this government learn to live within their means - they put less than £20 billion into the economy yet increase borrowing to £118 billion by mid 2010. The Labour government is broke and they keep spending to put off the evil hour - It has to come sooner or later.

typical, just typical, if your in the 20% to 80% of the public who are "normal" look out as usual!

Clowns in the circus of paliament, juggling the books, but who's laughing? certainly not the motorist! The world has been mis-managed by the leaders, credit crunch is proof. I say Labour, level the playing field in UK by reducing tax on fuel and let britain live a little, keep motorists happy, they may vote for you again later?

I work in local government and they are never quick to adjust our fuel allowance. Also has anyone commented 2.5% is not a lot to drive an increase in spending but we cannot go below 15% thanks a lot Europe!

When one considers that most of our food (if not all) moved around the country by road; i beggars belief that this Chancellor can be so short sighted as toreally only apply a cosmetic approach to the problem.
Bring back the fuel protests and hold this Government to account. It worked last time!!

Every financial advisor would tell you "Do NOT borrow more to get you out of financial difficulties", solabour in their extreme wisdom are going to borrow even more billions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, it's typical of this government - another knee jerk reaction which will have minimal overall effect on the mess we're in. The motorist is considered an 'easy' target so we get hammered yet again.

Well, am not chuffed about the fuel increase, but I remember life under Dictator Thatcher, and it was no flaming picnic

Typical Labour Government proposal take off some VAT temporarily and add a permenant Tax to compensate the VAT will go back on at some point but you can bet your bottom doller the 2p Tax rise will stay on.

Eddie

Most if not all retailers will fail to pass on the VAT reduction to consumers, and of course they will get away with it, however; we can all rest assured that every fuel supplier will add the fuel increase to their prices, as always we, the consumers will get hit where it hurts most, in our pockets.

I find it very interesting how people blame government for their own greed of have now, pay later. In the "old" days, people used to save money to buy things. We are heading back to that. I keep up with the "Joneses" on a 12 month delay with no debt whatsoever!! Ha Ha!!

AS always you are never better off after a Budget or for that matter by anything this Government does - everyone will therefore pay more if they have increased Duty on road fuel AGAIN. So no change there!!!

Thank you drinkers, drivers and smokers. If you didn't exist I don't know who would pay the taxes that this and previous governments have or will squander on ill fated computer projects, Millenium Dome, 2012 Olympic Games etc.

Why can't all the fat cats and companies just pay their share of tax instead of employing armies of accountants to find ways of avoiding paying tax?

While I agree that the tinkering does mean an increase in fuel in real terms I believe the big problem to be the fact that the retailers have not passed on the true price cuts to the motorist. I think this is disgraceful and Government should set up some kind of body to investigate. We are being ripped off big time, fuel should be at least 10p /litre less than it is. These guys are getting rich at the expense of all of us who drive or use oil to heat our homes.

One word sums them up....IDIOTS!

It is the usual Brown approach (yes, he is still Chancellor).
Use the nonsensical VAT reduction as the headline and then increase the fuel tax!
The biggest contribution to our economy would be a drastic reduction in the tax on fuel.
"Every knows"- as Gordon always says- that the cost of fuel affects everything. If he had simply taken that one measure, then everyone would have received large benefits. It would have reduced industry's costs and made them more competitive and reduced unemployment, cut costs for the NHS, councils, etc and reduced retail prices.
Just that one measure would have achieved far more than all the fiddling.

It's typical of todays politicians. Always trying to kid you that they care!!

It is always the same with the Labour government, they treat us like twits. Don't they realise that we can see straight through their plans and immediately know that the percentage of people that they actually help is minimal. Whereas those individuals that is adversly effects is considerable including businesses. I thought they were trying to help the economy! All very well reducing VAT if we can't afford to fill the car with fuel to get to the shops!

This Goverment cant seem to see the simple solution ! Cut tax on fuel so that the price of petrol and diesel can come down, which in turn leads too good hard working folk having extra money in there pockets who will then be able to spend there extra cash in shops. VAT tax cut is laughable Darling you are an idiot like your Boss.

This is not so much about petrol as management. This government(?) has not managed our economy in any organised sense that we recognise. It has been run by a man who decides what to spend his money on (usually health and education) and raises taxes accordingly. The fact that there has been a negative return from both sectors usually means even more money being invested (but both are vote getters).
Unlike business there has been no long term strategic thinking - which should have meant investment in power or transport.
Or financial prudence and oversight.
But what do you expect from people who have never done a proper days work in their lives - just been party workers.
Alas

The government knows that driving is a necessity for us workers and not a nice to have. Therefore they treat us as a cash cow as we have no choice but to pay their relentless bleeding taxes.

Most people who work anti-social shifts need their cars to get to work, are the goverment hoping that increasing the fuel duty again will encourage people to use public transport. In some area's this is not possible, and another tax increase on fuel will only make some families struggle even more in these turbulent times.

As one other person wrote give with one hand and take back with the other.

Paul

Lets start making the high mileage users pay for the roads by lowering the road tax and putting the difference on fuel. That way it is a greater incentive to get a more efficient vehicle rather than a (in most cases a company paid for) gas guzzler.

As per usual, Labour stealth has come into force. Does Mr Darling really think all of us are stupid? We all have the chance to end this Richard Turpin and his croanies...............Get them out at the next election!!! Why we ever let them in the first place, is beyond me. Did we not learn from the last and every time Labour tries to Govern our country????

So the chancellor yet again robs the poor to placate the rich

As the cost of fuel affects everyone regardless of whether they actually own a car and it has such a knock on effect for all the trade in this country it seems ridiculous to be doing anything which will raise the actual cost of fuel.

Well - we certainly won't be influenced to spend by a marginal £2.50 in every hundred. Our main expenditure is food, so no gain there, and we don't "consume" - sorry for that, but we live perfectly acceptable lives without constantly spending money on increasingly useless products.

We try to live in the real world, where all people have one planet to supply their needs - the rate at which global capitalism wants us to spend in the UK means that, if everyone in the world consumed at that rate, we'd need 3 planets (at the US rate, it's 5 planets) - can one of these clever chaps tell me where the other planets are going to come from?

Same old, same old. Nothing ever changes. A two year old could come up with this tired act of robbing Peter to pay Paul. Know that this government has managed to shoot it's self in both feet & stopped virtually all revenue from smoking & alcohol leaving only road fuel to target, I don't think that any body with an ounce of common sense can believe this introduction will make make a blind bit of difference to the mess we have found our selves in.

the answer is very simple. at the next election vote against labour and ensure that Gordon Brown and his merry men of highway robbers are put out of a job.

The sooner this damned Labour Govt is voted out, the better. They are completely useless at housekeeping. You can't spend what you don't have and why the hell are we all having to pay for the mistakes of 'city fat cats' still getting rediculous bonuses. They should ALL hang their heads in shame. This is a digustingly two faced 'early budget'. 2.5% temporary VAT reduction will NEVER work and will cost us, the people and small business owners a small fortune in a time when every penny counts to keep our heads afloat. Idiots in power who have never worked a real day in their lives or tried to run a business with their own money are making disastrous decisions for the rest of us. We should be able to tax THEM for this and all their other greedy mistakes. This won't help us, as motorists, either. They talk out of their backsides about wanting to help us. Petrol is ludicrously expensive in this country and they should stop taxing us in every which way they can. I feel like emigrating - but to where that's got a Govt that really works and cares about the people who pay their salaries!

The government should have left the fuel situation as it was. Prices will rise anyway and they will then get the VAT back. Most people are worried about paying their fuel bills. I am a student and am stuggling with the petrol prices. Public transport is not good enough.

Yet again the motorists gets hit in the pocket, as a disabled driver who has a disabled partner we need the use of or car as we both are unable to use public transport.

I was just getting used to paying under the pound for a litre and then low and behold we motorist have to help bail out a government who has made a complete pigs ear of the financial crisis.

Over the years my partner and I have paid more than our far share of taxes to the government in one form or another and enough is enough...why don't the MP's cut their outlandish overheads that they charge the tax payer and make this country a proud place to live in again...... cause at the moment we are quickly heading towards being a third world country...

So come on Mr Brown get your head out of your backside and come and live in the real world of people who are trying to make ends meet, instead of swanning of to the four corners of the world.....

I live and work in a rural area where a car is vital. I have to travel 3 miles to my nearest petrol station which although competitive is not always the cheapest. We do have a bus service but not necessarily when you need it and they are not very reliable. I now drive a Honda CRV as my little fiesta was getting wrecked by the state of the roads. So therefore I am not a happy motorist. The days are gone when my tank was 3/4 full. I now put just enough in to do my regular journey for the week. I really cannot see the government proposals helping me very much at all but then I am no financial expert and something had to be done. The trouble is that we are all reliant on fuel so making it a target to get the VAT back doesnt make sense if thats the case leave VAT as it is!

I agree totally with Ron Johnson!!!! Well put!

A token gesture off VAT so I can go out and spend! How the hell do I do that when I cannot afford the petrol to put in my car!! Yes 'U' try getting on Public Transport with a ladder and bucket!!

Window Cleaner

I travel to work 70 miles a day, in the middle of no where with no public transport available I only have my car to get me there, this costs me £55.00 a week in diesel. My question to the Goverment is why should I be penelised for going to work to feed my family, as far as I am concerned I pay £55.00 a week extra tax.